I was out with Roger today and
we initially went to Wistow Church to see if we could find a Spotted
Flycatcher. As we got out of the car I thought I could hear one but when we
went into the church yard I could hear nothing and there was no sign of
anything. I we returned to the car again
I thought I could hear one and then Roger picked on up at the top of a tree on
the other side of the road, success. It
remained for a while but then flew and disappeared.
We continued to Eye Brook
Reservoir seeing a Little Owl at Slawston on route. The water had dropped a little a Eye Brook
Reservoir but a single Common Sandpiper was the only wader with the exception
of a few Lapwing. There were seven
Shelduck present and two Little Egrets were observed, which were the first here
since December 2012. Two Buzzards flew
over the bridge area and a third was observed to the west and two Common Terns
were present near the inlet end of the reservoir. Circa fifty Swift were observed towards Holly
Oaks Farm and fifteen Swallow were observed from the road bridge. There was also circa thirty House Martins
amongst the Swift and I did pick out a couple of Sand Martins. A Sedge Warbler was observed perched on top
of some sedge and we also heard a couple of Willow Warblers, two Blackcaps and
two Whitethroats.
It felt bitterly cold in the
north arm at Rutland Water and other than a single Oystercatcher and five
Shelduck there was little else but two Buzzards were observed over Burley Wood.
On the Egleton Reserve we went
straight to shoveler hide on lagoon three where there had been three
first-summer Little Gulls yesterday but there was no sign.
Mistle Thrush near the Bird Watching Centre
Willow Warbler near the badger hide
Willow Warbler near the badger hide
Male Tufted Ducks pursuing a single female on lagoon three
We walked the short distance
to plover hide on lagoon four where we found just four Ringed Plovers and five
Shelduck. It was good to see that the
four Lapwing chicks on island three were all still present after the cold and
wet conditions yesterday. With still no
sign of the Little Gulls we decided to go into bittern hide for another look on
lagoon three but all we could find was a dozen Common Terns.
Great Crested Grebe on lagoon four
Lapwing chick on lagoon four
As we approached the gate back
to the centre we saw Rick who informed us that the Little Gulls were on lagoon
four. So we went into sandpiper hide and
found them directly in front resting on the spit running away from island ten,
which is not visible from plover hide.
An Osprey also circled overhead for a few minutes and we saw two more
Buzzards over Burley Wood.
Osprey over lagoon four
After returning to the car
park and having lunch we walked towards the new lagoons with Ken who had now
joined us. We called at snipe,
fieldfare, tern, pintail and the 360° hide
covering the wet meadow, all the new lagoons and part of south arm three. From snipe hide I located two distant Hobbies
and there were two Little Ringed Plovers on lagoon seven. We also saw a couple of Redshanks from snipe
hide and there were two more on lagoon five,
On six the Oystercatcher that had been sitting in front of tern hide was
now attending two chicks. There were
also more Shelduck and Common Terns on most lagoons with twenty-one Common
Terns present on lagoon seven and twenty-seven Shelduck on lagoon one. There were also plenty of warblers that
included Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Whitethroat and
Sedge Warbler but we only heard most of them.
Stock Dove over lagoon six
Common Tern over lagoon five
It had been a rather quiet day
but we still managed over seventy species.
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